Ryanair Cuts Winter Capacity due to Air Passenger Duty
Budget airline Ryanair has announced plans to reduce their winter capacity by an overall 16%. An airline spokesperson said that their intention is to move planes previously based in London to other bases around Europe, where the countries’ governments have done away with tourist taxes and decreased passenger charges.
Instead of the 24 aircraft that were based at Stansted last year, Ryanair will only base 22 planes there, which will reduce flights by 135 per week - a 17% cut. This will also result in the carrier losing 1.5 million passengers compared to last winter.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary is blaming the reduction in capacity on the government and airport regulators. He has called for the Air Passenger Duty to be scrapped, and he’s not the only one. The tax has been labeled damaging and insane by many experts in the industry. There has also been call for the breakup of the British Airports Authority’s monopoly on London’s airports, where there are high fees.
O’Leary says that UK tourism and traffic is still collapsing while the airline continues growing quickly in countries that welcome tourists instead of making them pay a tax. The 16% winter capacity cutback shows how much the tourist tax, as well as the high airport charges of the British Airports Authority’s airports, are damaging the tourism of Britain and the general economy, he added.
This isn’t the first time that these reasons have been cited by Ryanair for cuts in capacity. In 2009, the airline cut winter capacity at Stansted Airport by 40%, blaming the reduction on high charges and passenger duty.
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